First test for new captain Paras

Nepal are the emerging power in Asian cricket. However, the scenarios will be different on Sunday. Nepal are taking archrivals Malaysia in the second edition of the ACC T-20 Cup on Sunday but, most importantly, Nepal are under the leadership of new captain Paras Khadka.

This will be the first occasion that Nepal are playing under new captaincy in the last five years as Paras replaced Binod Das from the role. It would be the first senior level test for Paras in international tournament though he had succeeded in winning several domestic and age group tournaments.

Binod was captain for the national squad since 2005. Nepal had won the ACC Premier League Three-day Tournament in 2006 under Binod´s captaincy. However, Nepal could not cross the semifinals bench in four other major tournaments during his reign. Nepal were limited to semis in the important tournaments like two ACC trophies and ICC Division-5 World league.

In the meantime, Paras was leading region number 3, Kathmandu, to victories in the domestic tournaments — Wai Wai U-19, YumYum Senior T-20, Springwood National Cricket Tournament and Springwood T-20 Tournaments — to prove himself as a matured captain. Nepal had won the ACC U-19 Elite Cup in 2007 and reached the plate final of the ICC U-19 World Cup under Paras´ captaincy.

Nepal had encountered Malaysia in the first match of the first edition of the ACC T-20 Cup held last year in Kuwait in which Nepal had won the match by 21 runs. Nepal will try to continue the same momentum this time around in Sharjah, UAE.

Malaysia will try to end their ill-fated run in Pepsi World Cricket League Division-5 held in Singapore three months ago. On the opposite side, Nepal are taking this tournament as the preparation for the Division-5 League, which is scheduled to start from February 20 in Nepal.

Along with Malaysia, Nepal will face Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain in the following matches of group ´B´. The top two teams from each group will enter the semifinals of the tournament.